When we think of Broadway, dazzling musicals, bright theaters, and legendary performers immediately come to mind. What many don’t realize is that much of this history was shaped by Jewish immigrants who found in art a way to rebuild their lives—and in doing so, forever transformed American musical theater.

This journey inspires Um לugar Para Nós — in English: A (ל) Place for Us – From Broadway to Brazil — a benefit performance presented by the Congregação Israelita Paulista (CIP) on August 16 at Sala São Paulo. The event is part of CIP’s 90th anniversary celebrations and will highlight the intersection of cultures, memory, immigration, and music, showcasing the contribution of Jewish artists to the creation of global musical theater and their influence on the Brazilian stage.

The cast brings together some of Brazil’s leading musical theater stars: Alessandra Maestrini, Bruna Guerin, Giulia Nadruz, Gottsha, Kiara Sasso, Samantha Schmütz, Saulo Vasconcelos, and Soraya Ravenle, with special appearances by Marcos Veras, Felipe Grytz, and Avi Bursztein. The evening will be hosted by Dan Stulbach, accompanied by the São Paulo Big Band and Orchestra.

With general direction by Gustavo Barchilon, musical direction by Antonio de Arruda Ribeiro, script and curation by Claudio Erlichman, lighting by Maneco Quinderé, costumes by Fábio Namatame, and production by BARHO Produções, the show spans more than a century of history, celebrating the meeting of music, memory, immigration, and identity.

In an interview with The Times of Israel, Gustavo Barchilon and Claudio Erlichman discuss the Jewish influence on Broadway’s formation, the creative process behind the show, and a legacy that continues to inspire musical theater today.

Interview (originally in Portuguese):

1. Broadway’s story is often associated with glamour and entertainment. But its roots are deeply tied to Jewish immigration. How did this history begin?

Claudio Erlichman — Broadway’s roots are closely linked to Jewish immigration to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Millions of Jews fled Eastern Europe, escaping persecution, pogroms, and poverty, and settled in New York—especially in the Lower East Side, where Yiddish theater thrived.  

It was in this environment that a generation of artists, composers, playwrights, and producers began developing the language that would give birth to the American musical. Facing social and professional barriers of the time, many Jews found in entertainment a space to create, innovate, and express themselves.  

Names such as Irving Berlin, the Gershwin brothers, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim not only wrote timeless hits but also helped shape the cultural identity of the United States. Their works transformed experiences of immigration, belonging, prejudice, and hope into universal stories.  

To understand Broadway, therefore, is also to understand how a community that encountered so many closed doors ultimately opened some of the most important doors in world culture.  

2. All this journey........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)